Stuff brewing!

That week went by quickly!

After a weird tough swim on Monday, the Wednesday swim was wonderful! 2K, 38:10 or so, which is a bit off the pace I like, but my flip turns were slow. My knees weren't feeling strong and I didn't want to push off too hard.

Yoga Wednesday started well, but ended crampily quite quickly. Something in my left mid back cramped up on me. I had to be careful what I was doing. Later in the evening I woke myself up with a loud thunk in my back as I rolled over. It felt much better in the morning.

Thursday. Ugh. Home and to bed early to start a 4 day weekend. An article in the paper sparked some outrage and I'm planning to blog about that later this weekend. Plus the taxes post is still being polished. We had several glasses of this wine. Pity it's the last bottle.

There are two reds and a white on the go right now. The white is being very slow to settle. I may end up taking more drastic action. The Chilean Volcanic Red is ready to be degassed, and bottling soon. Can't wait to taste it!

Friday was a bit of a gong show in the pool again, but the dive tank was peaceful. Working on stroke, then into the big pool after a swim team left. Without even really trying I banged out an 88 second 100 m! That felt pretty good.

Then I was off for a bike fit. The last one was well before IMC, and my body has certainly changed since then! We started with a review of my bike goals, and what's been the issue(s) that brought me to a bike fit session. That's simple, I don't want my back to hurt, and I'd like to see if a change in the fit will get more power out of my legs, especially going up hill.

Then he assessed my flexibility and how my body works while doing various things. Then onto the bike. He very quickly realized my seat was too high, leading to my leg straightening out to about a 20 degree angle, and my toes actually pointing down at the bottom of the pedal stroke. This leads to all sorts of nastiness, so I wasn't surprised to find I had dead spots in my stroke, and protesting muscles. Normally saddle adjustments are done a few mm at a time. He dropped my seat by 25 mm! An entire inch! Then shifted it back a bit. That felt better.

He had already tweaked my cleats so my toes were further forward on the pedals, and put some stiffer insoles into my shoes. Then some shims under the insole. I couldn't believe the difference it made. My pedal stroke feels smoother and stronger, and my right knee is certainly more stable, especially at a slower, higher effort rpm pace. My ankles aren't flexing and flopping around anymore. The bike feels more stable in turns.

Trying to spin at much over 100 rpm hasn't been much fun, but during the session I got up to 135 rpm before I started bouncing around a little. That felt stable and strong.

Then I was riding outside a bit to see how it felt. He thought the fit looked much better. Along the way he checked out my shoulders and neck, and where my hands fell on the handlebars. Since he moved the seat down so much he was reluctant to also change the stem. He thinks it could come up a bit more, but it's probably best to settle into the bike and see how it feels.

My plan is to go for a ride on Sunday or Monday down Road to Nepal again, and see how the hills feel with the new bike fit. If it wasn't so cool and overcast, I'd go now, I'm that eager to try it out. Even just the little bit of riding I did during the fit had my quads and knee and low back feeling a little different, in a good way.

Linda has been working diligently in the garden. The lilies are all planted in temporary pots, and the pansies are in their permanent home. Here she is, hard at it the other night. I was out writing in the lodge to escape the cats.

I've been getting a chuckle out of the reactions people have been having in the week since the election. The people within my company are pretty blase about it. Most are willing to wait and see what happens. But some people are still over reacting, saying all sorts of stupid things. In their view the oil and gas companies are going to be taxed out of existence, then every other company because, duh, higher taxes. And the union people are all going to be guaranteed raises and will be doing just fine, though who they will be working for if all the companies have left town, is beyond me.

There is lots of discussion about the mechanisms of changing government, mainly because it hasn't happened in 44 years. I can see them digging out dusty old books about the procedures involved. At least they stopped the wholesale document shredding that was going on. Proof that the Conservatives have something, probably many somethings, to hide.

There's been a bit of comment about the inexperience of the various MLA's in the NDP caucus, but I don't mind that. The PC's were in the same boat when they took power in 1971. The experience of the PC's just made them arrogant and corrupt. Good riddance.

The Conservatives lost another seat today. There had been a tie vote, 7015 votes each between the NDP and Conservative candidates. A recount ended up with a 6 vote difference, and the NDP has been declared elected. So don't tell me your vote doesn't count!

Evidently sales of the "Peoples Republic of Albertastan" T shirts are going briskly, to my great amusement.